A police ambush laid at a forest location in the Maoist-infested Bonai sub-division in Sundargarh district led to the arrest of an area commander of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit on Monday evening.
Rourkela SP Himanshu Lal on Tuesday identified the arrested as Bipin Kumar Sahani alias Lambu (25) who had succeeded the slain hardcore Maoist Md. Muslims as area commander for Bhalulata-Digha region in the dense Saranda forest.
The SP said Lambu had confessed to his involvement in a series of blasts in which a railway cabin at Bondamunda, Bisra Tehsil office and the Jareikela police outpost were blown up a couple of years back, adding his criminal antecedents were being verified.
Reports said a special police team with DVF personnel under the command of Additional SP (under trainee) Sarah Sharma had laid the ambush at the forested Tala Ginia area under Mahulpada police limits. Lambu was nabbed around 6.30 pm while moving suspiciously with a German-made revolver with three rounds of live ammunition.
Police further claimed that Lambu, a native of Vaishali district in Bihar, was present at the temporary Maoist camp at K Balang reserve forest of the sub-division on June 18 when it was dismantled by security forces. Maoist cadres Salkhan Oram, Daharu Munda and Mungulu Purti alias Pui were nabbed with a huge haul of arms and ammunition, but others had then managed to flee.
The arrested Maoist area commander was produced in court on Tuesday.